DISCLAIMER: Firefly and Serenity's crew belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy

Notes: This is sort of a companion piece to "Steady as rain". The lyrics belong to U2……of course! I just thought it fit!!

Again I humbly apologize for any errors, spelling etc. that slip by me! SORRY!!! But English is my 2nd language.

This story takes place during and after "The Message" and it's for you Neroli, since there was no River/ Jayne interaction in "Two By Two". Hope you like!

Clear as Water

Take a walk with your sister the moon

Let her pale light in to fill up your room

You've been living underground

Eating from a can

You've been running away

From what you don't understand

Love

"You have beautiful eyes….." River whispered. Simon looked up from the book he was reading.

"Mei- Mei?"

She was leaning against the lab's doorframe, her hair falling over one side of her face.

"It's not that hard to say…." She told him in a very reprimanding tone of voice.

Simon closed the book, pinching the back of his nose. It had gotten harder for him to tell whether his sister was lucid or not

She had changed her clothing, he realized; exchanged her dress for loose-fitting pants. Her condition had gotten more stabile, or at least there were times when Simon thought that her words and action made sense in some way. It had been a good couple of days. She was responsive and calm. He wasn't quite sure where she was going with her remarks until she rolled her eyes at him.

"You should have told her. It's what you think. It's what you wanted to say, before you started stammering…and then all the wrong words came out."

"Oh …" Simon took a deep breath. She hadn't been there with him and Kaylee in that booth, but somehow she still knew. She always knew things like that.

"Yes, that was……"

"I know." She interrupted him with a dismissive nod. "I know what it's like …..Saying something all wrong. I'll try harder, so will you?"

"River…..I…"

"I need to go now. Need to see something, before the storm comes."

She's slippy

You're sliding down

She'll be there when you hit the ground

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What in devil's name was she up to now?

"What the hell are you doin´?"

Jayne could judge from the preacher's face that he too was kind of appalled if not disturbed by the sight of River climbing onto that coffin. She was crawling on top of it much like a cat, stretching languorously before lying down.

He might be a lot of things, Jayne thought to himself, but squeamish he was not. He'd never been the kind of man to walk away from something rather than getting his hands dirty…or his conscience for that matter.

But this …this was a whole different matter……and Jayne wasn't even sure if this was the craziest thing he'd ever see her do. He could never tell with the girl.

And what the hell did she mean by saying she was all comfortable, lying on top of the coffin like that?

I

ts alright, It's alright

It's alright

She moves in mysterious ways

Jayne shook his head; he almost didn't hear what the preacher was saying.

That girl didn't make any sense at all. Jayne watched her wearily as she turned her head, resting it on the coffin lid as though she was listening for something.

He suppressed a shudder. She might be a mind reading genius, but she sure as hell wasn't ….normal in any way.

The way she had moved just then, with the ruttin´crawling and stretching and all. Jayne couldn't help but be reminded of some sort of wild animal. The way she looked at people through that mass of unruly hair…..the way she looked at him sometimes. Jayne didn't like it.

And now this thing with the coffin…….for all he knew the darn girl was trying to communicate with the carcass inside. Maybe even expecting to have the corpse to talk back to her. It didn't sit right with him.

Take a dive with your sister in the rain

Let her talk about the things you can't explain

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"Not your time."

Jayne flinched, whirling around in the dark, one hand ready to strike at whoever had crept up behind him. He managed to stop himself in mid- motion as his eyes made out her tiny frame in the shadows.

"Whatcha´think you're doin here?" he growled at her. One of these days the damn girl would get hurt on accord of her sneaking around. She was moving too damn quiet for her own good, moving with that peculiar grace of hers…..like a dancer.

" If you plannin´ on creeping up on people like that, you'd better be wearing´ a gorram ´ bell round your neck or some such!"

"I'm not a cat." She told him as though it was the obvious thing to say.

Jayne scowled at her, but the expression didn't seem to register with her.

"Just thought you should know it's not your time …won't need to worry about words being spoken or any such thing….."

It took Jayne a moment to understand that she was referring to his talk with the preacher.

"Heard that ha? What business is it of yours?"

He turned to walk away from her.

"You're a frog."

"What?"

"You're a frog…." She repeated with a happy smile, nodding at him.

"Simon doesn't know …doesn´care. He thinks you're some kind of ape, but I know better. You're a frog!"

"I sure as hell ain´t a frog….now you take that back!" Jayne told her angrily, without even knowing what he was angry about. What did he care if she thought he was a frog? She was a ruttin´ loon, talking crazy day in and day out!

" Nooo, noo…" River said, stepping forward, looking around herself as if to make sure that no one would hear her. " That is a good thing ….don't you see? You can stay like that forever, I won't mind! Princes are useless out here…..I have no use for them. Princes only make for a nice dinner out here, gobbled up by the dragon in their shiny armour." He felt her cold fingers brush his arm.

To touch is to heal

To hurt is to steal

If you want to kiss the sky

Better learn how to kneel

On your knees boy

Jayne stared at her for a minute, before he turned away with a snort.

" Your hat isn't very cunning."

Jayne stopped dead in his tracks, not sure if he'd heard her right. What was she goin´on about now? And where the hell was that good for nothing brother of hers?

Wasn't Simon supposed to keep an eye on his sister?

After that funeral they had just returned from, Jayne really wasn't in the mood for her crazy talk.

" Where's your brother?" he asked her roughly, looking back at her over his shoulder. The girl had the audacity to shrug.

"Holding hands with Kaylee, lessen the pain…." She gave him one of her rare smiles.

"You cried too."

She's the wave

She turns the tide

She sees the man inside the child

I did not!" he barked at her, turning around to give her another good stare; the kind of stare that would have grown men scramble for cover and yet …..It didn't seem to impress the girl much.

Jayne crossed his arms in front of his chest, glowering. River pursed her lips, her brow furrowing up just the tiniest bit.

" Sometimes I think you'd look better if you wouldn't scowl at me quite so much."

Jayne opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again as he wasn't quite sure what to say. The girl was mad, completely insane. On top of that annoying factor, that girl seemed to have nothing but disregard for most of the things he said. And right now, Jayne didn't know how to deal with that.

" It is…..unnerving me."

Now that was good news for all Jayne cared. After all it had unnerved him quite a bit that she had cut him with a damn big kitchen knife and threatened to kill him with that gorram´brain of hers!

" You like to fight people." She said matter of factly." So that they don't see that even you get frightened sometimes! So you scare them before they can see….."

Now wait a ruttin´minute……

" I don't get scared of nuthin´!" he growled at her.

" You're not the devil you want people to think you are." Something went through her, Jayne could see that; almost like an electric current. River shivered, suddenly looking very confused and lost.

" You've never seen the devil….." she whispered. " …..never felt true evil. I have."

Her fingers grazed his arm again, cool like a fresh breeze. Jayne couldn't tell if it was intentional or not, but he sure didn't like to see her mood swing like that. It was unsettling.

"If you know so darn well, why don't ya tell me?" he challenged her. River blinked at him, seemingly flustered. His words had snapped her right out of that strange mood.

It's alright, it's alright

It's alright

She moves in mysterious ways

Its alright, it's alright

It's alright

Lift my days, light up my nights

River smiled her secretive smile, shaking her head at him. For some innate reason Jayne found that almost beguiling.

" No …..Not what I came to find you for."

She delicately pushed a few strands of hair out of her face.

" Just came to have you know that you won't need to worry …..It's not your time yet. Preacher won't have to speak any words over your end. You're still needed…."

Jayne narrowed his eyes as one of the lights in the corridor began to flicker. He had half a mind to ask the girl what he ´d be needed for, but something told him that the answer to that question might unsettle him a lot more than watching her crawl her way across a coffin.

Instead he gave her a grim smile.

"And how would you know that?"

She held his gaze for a moment longer before she lowered her yes to look at her feet.

" I don't know how to eat problematic food….but there are other things I know….."

One day you will look back

And you'll see

You were held

By this love

You could stand

You could move on this moment

Follow this feeling

She moves in mysterious ways